Stars you may not know passed away

We all look up to our favorite stars, and when one of them sadly passes, it leaves us all with a heavy heart. There's never truly a good time to say goodbye to a loved one, and the same is somehow true for people we only know from afar, whether they were actors, musicians, or sports legends. Many of these names you will recognize, some you may not, but each of these people left an undeniable mark on our lives and the world we know today. Some were cut short in their prime while others led long, fulfilled lives before leaving the mortal coil, and some stars may have faded in recent years, but they all have one thing in common: They will be missed. Join us as we take a look at these stars, how we lost them, and the accomplishments or feats we'll always remember them for.

Omar Sharif

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Omar Sharif is probably most famous for his roles in Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, but while those roles kicked off his career in the U.S., they certainly weren't the end of it. The Egyptian actor was a powerhouse in cinema for over 60 years, up to his most recent role in 2013's Rock the Casbah (not to be confused with Bill Murray's Rock the Kasbah). Younger fans might recognize him from The 13th Warrior, which also starred Antonio Banderas, or the Viggo Mortenson film Hidalgo.

In early 2015, Omar Sharif was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. He had a heart attack later that same year and died on July 10, 2015, in Cairo, Egypt. Sadly, his mental health had deteriorated rapidly in those few short months. According to his son, the 83-year-old could remember the broad strokes of his life — he knew he was an actor — but he couldn't recall when some of his films had been made.

Amanda Peterson

In 1987, 15-year-old Amanda Peterson catapulted into our hearts with her breakout role in Can't Buy Me Love. It was a shining moment that burned all too briefly for the teen star. Can't Buy Me Love was, sadly, the height of her career. In the decades after, Peterson developed a drug habit and was arrested multiple times for drug possession and assault.

In July 2015, Amanda Peterson's body was found in her home after her family became worried that she hadn't spoken with them for two days. The 43-year-old reportedly had a cocktail of drugs in her system, and the cause of death was officially chalked down to respiratory failure. Following her untimely death, her family revealed in an emotional interview that, as a 15-year-old, Amanda Peterson had been raped by a man nearly twice her age, a horrifying incident which left emotional scars that never completely went away. Maybe Cindy Mancini was right after all: the moon looks different now. It's not as mysterious or romantic as before.

Tony Burton

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On February 25, 2016, 78-year-old actor and ex-boxer Tony Burton finally fought his last round after a long battle with pneumonia. The world knew Tony Burton best as Duke, the hard-ass boxing trainer in the Rocky series. He had a supporting role in six total Rocky films, most recently the 2006 sequel, Rocky Balboa. Burton was a long-time friend of Sylvester Stallone and Carl Weathers, who played Apollo Creed in the franchise.

It should come as no surprise that the man who trained both Creed and Rocky on film was a boxer himself in his early years. He was a two-time light-heavyweight champion before he retired from the sport in 1959. After that, Tony Burton tried to cobble his life together, but eventually found himself doing a three-year stretch in a California prison for robbery. While behind bars, Burton took an interest in acting, and in 1974 he landed his first role in the blaxploitation film The Black Godfather.

After a string of minor TV appearances, Burton nabbed a small role in John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, and then finally went for the knockout when he was cast as Duke in the first Rocky film. The rest, as they say, is history.

David Huddleston

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"I didn't blame anyone for the loss of my legs. Some Chinaman took them from me in Korea."

It's a fact. You can't watch The Big Lebowski without cracking up at David Huddleston's performance. In a cast littered with heavyweight comedy actors, Huddleston stole his scenes without even bothering to stand up. He was one of "those guys," a face you knew immediately with a name you could never remember. Although the world will probably remember him as the titular Big Lebowski, David Huddleston was gracing the camera long before then (and long after). From the Mel Brooks classic Blazing Saddles to 2005's The Producers (which also starred Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, and Will Ferrell), David Huddleston was a part of decades' worth of pop culture.

On August 2, 2016, David Huddleston died in New Mexico after a long fight with heart and kidney disease. He was 85 years old. According to his wife, he was a man who lived as large as the roles he played, but who never hesitated to slow down and enjoy the little things in life. Here's to you, Dave. Because strong men also cry.

George Martin

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It's been said that if there hadn't been a George Martin, there wouldn't have been a band called the Beatles. Whether that's true or not is impossible to say, but George Martin certainly helped turn the band into the international sensation they became. John Lennon himself said that George Martin "made us what we were in the studio." It's no wonder the legendary producer was often called the fifth Beatle.

From 1963's Please Please Me, the Beatles' first LP, all the way through 1969's Abbey Road, George Martin practically was a member of the band, working closely with them to refine the sound and texture of each and every song. After the Beatles' breakup, Martin continued producing for Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr during their solo efforts, famously working on McCartney's "Live and Let Die" in 1973.

Other musical acts that George Martin worked with include Kenny Rogers, Celine Dion, and Elton John, to name a few. On March 8, 2016, Martin died of unknown causes. He was 90 years old and passed away quietly in his sleep.

Nick Lashaway

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Nick Lashaway never became a household name, although who knows where his career might have gone if it had been given more time. Most recently, Nick Lashaway was known for his role as Frank on HBO's Girls. Lashaway also had roles in The 40-Year-Old Virgin and 2011's In Time, starring Justin Timberlake.

In 1998, at the age of 10, Nick Lashaway was cast in The X-Files as a young Fox Mulder, a role he later reprised in the 2015 continuation of the series. According to an Instagram post by Lena Dunham, star of Girls, Nick Lashaway was talented and sweet, and she feels "such gratitude for his gifts." Nick Lashaway was 28 when he was killed in a car accident on May 8, 2016.

Rob Knox

Rob Knox is relatively well-known to fans of the Harry Potter film franchise — he played ice cream-loving Ravenclaw Marcus Belby in Half-Blood Prince — though he should've been known for far more than that. Unfortunately, due to his incredibly untimely death, his career never advanced past that one big role.

Knox was set to return for Deathly Hallows, despite Belby not appearing in the Hallows novel, but tragedy struck before filming could commence. On May 24, 2008, Knox was at a pub with his younger brother in London when a man appeared, brandishing knives and screaming for a fight. He went after Knox's brother, but Knox (also an aspiring rugby player) rushed in to defend him. Unfortunately, this left Rob with four stab wounds, and he died that day. He was only 18.

A year later, his killer, Karl Bishop, was sentenced to life in prison. Around that time, during Half-Blood Prince's premiere, the cast wore white ribbons, both as a tribute to Knox and to raise awareness of the knife violence that was sadly prominent at the time in England.

Arnold Palmer

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When people nickname you "The King," you know you're doing it right. The godfather of golf and a god on the green, Arnold Palmer is one of golf's most recognizable names, and not just because somebody named a drink after him. Between 1955 and 1973, Arnold Palmer raked in victories at 62 PGA Tour events. When the World Golf Hall of Fame opened in 1974, only 13 golfers were added to the roster, and Arnold Palmer was one of them.

In 2012, Palmer became the sixth athlete in history to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. His career — which lasted more than 60 years — inspired thousands and went a long way toward making golf a nationally beloved sport. He passed away on September 25, 2016, at the age of 87. His wife told the press that he suffered from heart issues.

Kenny Baker

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You never saw his face, you never heard his voice, but Kenny Baker was one of the most recognizable actors in movie history. Standing just 3'8" tall, Kenny Baker went down in history as a giant. From A New Hope in 1977 to Revenge of the Sith in 2005, Kenny Baker was the man inside the suit in every Star Wars movie that featured R2-D2.

In addition to the Star Wars films, Kenny Baker also acted in Labyrinth, Time Bandits, Willow, and The Elephant Man. For years, Baker suffered from a lung condition, and the English actor finally succumbed to the illness on August 13, 2016. He was 81 years old, and he reportedly died peacefully in his sleep. George Lucas said that he was the "heart and soul" of R2-D2, a man who always worked hard to bring the robot to life.

Kimbo Slice

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The world's first glimpse of Kimbo Slice came in the form of YouTube videos showing the massive, bearded man brawling in backyards. Overnight, he became an internet sensation. But when his 15 minutes of fame was ready to leave him in the dark, Kimbo fought back. In 2008, Kimbo Slice (real name Kevin Ferguson), became a professional MMA fighter. His third professional fight became the first MMA match to be broadcast on prime-time TV.

In many ways, Kimbo's larger-than-life attitude brought the young sport of MMA into the mainstream, and although he looked fearsome in the ring, he was said to be a "gentle giant" in private. On June 6, 2016, Kimbo Slice was rushed to a hospital in Florida. He died of heart failure the same day.

According to ESPN, Kimbo Slice had been on a waiting list for a heart transplant at the time of his death.

Manute Bol

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NBA star Manute Bol was perhaps most famous for being 7'7", super tall even for basketball. But he was perhaps an even better humanitarian than athlete, which made his passing hurt even more.

As a player, Bol didn't put up the best numbers (he averaged well under three points a game over his career), but once he retired after ten seasons, he became a tireless advocate for Sudan Sunrise, an organization that promotes, as ESPN put it, "reconciliation in Sudan." He worked to build houses and schools in Sudan and to make the country a nicer place for the children there. In addition, he would do things like use his celebrity to counter political corruption in Sudan. Unfortunately, he wasn't long for the world, developing a terrible skin condition called Stevens-Johnson syndrome, which took patches of skin, particularly around his mouth. That, coupled with kidney failure, cost him his life on June 19, 2010. After his death, Sudan Sunrise vowed to continue his fight to improve Sudan and to work toward his goal of building 41 schools around the nation.

Junior Seau

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As time goes on, we've learned more and more about the terrible effects football can have on the brain. Junior Seau is proof, though sadly not living proof.

Seau played in the NFL for 20 years and, according to ESPN, was never once diagnosed with a concussion. Many concussions go unnoticed and undiagnosed, and Seau clearly suffered plenty of them. Two years after retiring, Seau shot himself in the heart, on May 2, 2012, and his wife and son wanted to know why. So they partnered with the National Institutes of Health, which studied his brain and concluded he suffered from severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Basically, as a result of getting hit in the head countless times over 20 years, Seau's brain deteriorated to the point that he couldn't think logically, which may have played a part in the suicide.

Seau's family hopes this research, along with subsequent research that has found CTE in countless football players, will someday prevent such tragedies from continuing to occur. Maybe organizations like the NFL can find ways not to hurt people and destroy families.

Dino Bravo

Dino Bravo was never the biggest WWF star, though he certainly was one of the strongest. Unfortunately, it was his (likely steroid-aided) size that was ultimately his downfall.

After years of employment throughout the '80s, Dino found himself on the outs with the WWF by 1992. According to fellow wrestler and friend Rick Martel, he simply didn't fit into Vince McMahon's plans anymore, so he was released. Bravo, with no savings and no knowledge of anything other than wrestling, got into organized crime through his uncle and joined a cigarette smuggling ring based in Quebec. Less than a year later, on March 10, 1993, he was dead, 17 gunshots riddled all over his body. Martel believes a cocaine smuggler blamed him for cops showing up during a would-be deal between the two markets, and Bravo suffered the consequences of running afoul with the mob.

Bravo may not have been Hulk Hogan or Steve Austin in terms of wrestling fame, but he certainly deserved a better fate than what he got.

Hector Camacho

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Hector "Macho" Camacho was both a great boxer (79 wins against just six losses) and a great showman. When he boxed, fans knew they were getting both sports and entertainment. But he's been gone from us for awhile, slain on November 24, 2012.

Camacho hadn't boxed since 2010 and had been battling drug problems long before that. In 2005, for example, he was arrested for trying to rob a store and had ecstasy with him at the time. On November 20, 2012, he was driving around with a friend who was apparently deep into cocaine. Another car approached Camacho and his friend, and the people inside opened fire. The driver (who had nine bags of coke on him) was shot twice and died. Camacho, meanwhile, took one bullet that went straight through his head. At first, according to ESPN, doctors thought he would survive, but then he suffered a heart attack that left him brain dead. He was taken off life support and died four days after the shooting.

Kirby Puckett

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Kirby Puckett was a Hall of Fame baseball player who won two World Series championships with the Minnesota Twins and who also won adulation from basically everyone who watched him play. As MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said upon his passing, "He was revered throughout the country and will be remembered wherever the game is played."

In 1996, Puckett's career was cut short due to glaucoma. According to former teammate Kent Hrbek, having to leave baseball so soon was likely super-devastating to Puckett, a feeling evidenced by Puckett's rapid post-retirement weight gain. Sadly, it was this extra weight that probably did him in — on March 5, 2006, Puckett suffered a severe stroke and died just a day later. At age 45, he became the second-youngest member of the MLB Hall of Fame to die post-induction (older only than Lou Gehrig). He left behind a legacy of sheer fun and enthusiasm, proving that you can play sports at the highest level and still enjoy yourself while doing it.

Craig Sager

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Craig Sager was the Rod Roddy of sports — a pleasant, middle-aged guy wearing the loudest, most colorful suits imaginable. For nearly 40 years, the TNT sideline reporter would interview NBA stars while dressed like a stereotypical used car salesman, but nobody found it obnoxious (though San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich would playfully rib him for just about anything). Seemingly everyone found him endearing.

So it was a league-wide loss when, on December 15, 2016, the 65-year-old Sager lost his two-year battle with acute myeloid leukemia. He had been battling it valiantly, getting three bone marrow transplants and over 20 rounds of chemo. As he told HBO's Real Sports, his goal was to make it five years, despite only being given 3-6 months to live. He made it more than two years, which still blew the doctors' expectations right out the water. But, as a testament to how beloved he was, during the 2016 NBA Finals, TNT arranged for Sager to appear on ESPN to report on his first-ever Finals game. LeBron James took the opportunity to rib him with, "How in the hell do you go 30-plus years without getting a Finals game? That don't make no sense." He added: "I'm happy to see you, man. Much love and respect. I'm happy I was able to witness it in front of these fans. We really appreciate you." For once, when one man spoke for everyone else, he was right.

Reggie Lewis

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Reggie Lewis was on his way to becoming an all-time NBA great when he left us way too soon, a death that hit the Boston community — and the entire NBA — hard.

He was only 27 when he died, but Reggie Lewis had already achieved a ton. He was an All-Star, a Celtics captain, a mentor to underprivileged youth — he was on his way to becoming as beloved as any legendary Boston sports figure. It didn't hurt that he would pull off insane feats like block Michael Jordan four times in a single game and was putting up incredible numbers as well. He was only the sixth player from 1988-1993 to score 7,500 points, 1,500 rebounds, 1,000 assists, and 500 steals. The other five are all Hall of Famers, so Lewis was almost certainly on his way.

Sadly, that never happened — on July 27, 1993, he collapsed on the court during practice. He had collapsed once before, during a playoff game the previous spring. But this time, he never got up, and was pronounced dead two hours later. His cause of death was hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a common athletic ailment where the heart thickens, eventually causing heart attacks and cardiac arrest. Regardless of the diagnosis, losing Lewis left a huge, long-lasting hole in Boston sports, and Boston in general.

Windell Middlebrooks

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You might not know the name Windell Middlebrooks, mainly because it sounds made up. But you've almost certainly seen the man behind the name, whether it was as cruise ship security guard Kirby from The Suite Life On Deck, as Curtis Brumfield on Body of Proof, in dozens of one- or two-shot TV appearances on shows ranging from Hannah Montana to It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, or the delivery guy from all those Miller High Life commercials. He was very much an "Oh, That Guy" kind of actor, and you were bound to find him in something you enjoyed.

Stevie Ryan

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YouTube has been around long enough that it breeds legitimate celebrities, but sadly that also means some of them have already passed. Stevie Ryan is one such person, a YouTuber who gained millions of followers through her Little Loca show, along with various impressions of Old Media stars. She got popular enough that she got her own sketch comedy show on VH1, Stevie TV, which ran for two seasons.

Unfortunately, like many a creative talent, Ryan suffered from depression, a condition that only got worse when her beloved grandfather passed. She said on the Mentally Ch(ill) podcast, "I'm just worried that this is going to send me into a deeper depression." Unfortunately, on July 1, 2017, two days after speaking about her grandfather, Stevie Ryan hung herself, leaving behind an all-too-brief legacy of a funny lady whose demons took her away long before her time.

Talia Joy Castellano

Talia Joy Castellano wasn't a YouTube star for very long, but only because cancer took her too early. Not just too early for her career — Talia was 13 when she passed, and that's too young for anyone.

At age 7, Castellano was diagnosed with cancer. She responded by focusing on making herself as beautiful as possible. She discovered makeup and, in 2011, started a YouTube channel devoted to makeup and beauty tutorials. She quickly became popular — so much so, in fact, that she appeared on Ellen in 2012. There, Ellen and CoverGirl magazine dubbed her an honorary CoverGirl, with her own cover and everything. Showing people a clip of it is Step 1 in determining whether they're robots.

Sadly, the next year her cancer became terminal, and on July 16, 2013, Castellano passed away surrounded by family. Regardless, she reportedly met her death while remaining happy, just as she would hope all her fans were every day.

Gram Parsons

Gram Parsons, a 1960s and '70s rock star, who was known for stints in The Byrds and the deliciously named Flying Burrito Brothers, died young even for musician standards. He died on September 19, 1973, after mixing opiates and alcohol to major overdose levels. He was only 26, meaning he didn't even qualify for the vaunted 27 Club, though we like to assume Jimi, Janis, and Morrison let him in anyway. The man did help invent country-rock, after all.

His death was a story in itself. As recapped by Rolling Stone, Parsons traveled to the Joshua Tree Inn in California because he apparently loved to do drugs in the desert. There he overdosed and died; then his body disappeared. As it turned out, his friend, Phil Kaufman, had stolen Parson's body and burned it at Cap Rock in Joshua Tree per a pact between the two. Parson's ashes were then buried in New Orleans, supposedly because his stepfather stood to inherit some of his son's estate if he could prove Louisiana residency. Since you couldn't exactly ask a pile of ashes where they lived, apparently burying them in the state you want them to have lived in is proof enough.

Zsa Zsa Gabor

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Zsa Zsa Gabor made it until she was 99 years old, though if she got her way, her tombstone would probably say she was 75.

Gabor was a legendary actress, appearing in over 30 films over a career that began in the 1950s. But she's more famous for her main career: "being Zsa Zsa Gabor." As the LA Times put it, "she was famous for being famous" long before Paris Hilton and company decided to be so. She was an unabashed personality, always ready with a racy quip ("I want a man who is kind and understanding. Is that too much to ask of a millionaire?") and glamorous clothing galore. She was fond of dressing as memorably as possibly, once complaining of modern starlets, "When you see them in real life, they look like nothing." But when Zsa Zsa walked down the street, you knew it was Zsa Zsa.

She married nine times (as she once said, "A girl must marry for love, and keep on marrying until she finds it,") had a habit of insisting she was younger than she really was, and called everybody "dahlink" whether they acted like a dahlink or not. Sadly, things took a turn in 2002, after a car crash left her partially paralyzed. Her health declined over the years, and on December 18, 2016, she passed away of heart failure. She had lived a full life.

Glenn Quinn

Fans of Angel and Roseanne knew Glenn Quinn well. On the former, he was Doyle, Angel's adviser to the Powers-That-Be. On the latter, he was Becky's studly-yet-dim boyfriend. By the time of his death on December 3, 2002, at age 32, he was Hollywood royalty. He had dated Gwyneth Paltrow, was friends with John Travolta, and was starting to be mentioned in the same breath as other Irish stars like Daniel-Day Lewis. Unfortunately, with stardom came temptation and vices, which Quinn sadly succumbed to. He developed a heroin habit and was reportedly reduced to begging for money from patrons at the clubs he used to own, according to the Belfast Telegraph.

On the day of his death, Quinn was crashing on a friend's couch after getting thrown out of rehab for using drugs. He went to sleep and, unbeknownst to his friend, would never wake up. He had overdosed on heroin, right there on the couch. And with that, one of the brightest stars of our time was snuffed out.

Ray Combs

Before Steve Harvey, Family Feud had comedian Ray Combs, the first guy to attempt hosting the show after Richard Dawson retired. He started in 1988, three years after Dawson left and Mark Goodson Productions decided to reboot the show. Unfortunately for Combs, audiences didn't take to him nearly as well, and his stint on the show was done by 1994. His replacement? Richard Dawson. That probably stung more than if he'd been replaced by another young up-and-coming comedian instead.

Life quickly spiraled downward for Combs after being let go from Feud. He made several bad financial decisions, was dealing with a divorce, and had severely injured his spine in an auto accident. All that, plus a failed comeback on a game show called The Love Psychic, sent Combs into a severe depression. In June 1996, police were summoned to his home — he was trashing the place and attempting to hurt himself. He was placed in psychiatric care, but it did no good. The next day, on June 2, 1996, the 40-year-old Combs hung himself with a hospital bed sheet, ending his misery in the saddest way possible.

George Reeves

George Reeves was one of the earliest actors to play Superman and was almost certainly the most beloved until the almost-identically-named-but-not-quite Christopher Reeve came along. But Reeves never relished the role and felt playing a TV superhero was beneath him — according to The Telegraph, he was frequently drunk on set and would say things to his co-star Phyllis Coates (Lois Lane) like "here's to the bottom of the barrel, babe," before drinking some more.

By the time he died on June 16, 1959, Reeves was in the toilet, professionally and personally. He had been typecast due to his Superman role, as studios didn't want to give him serious film work anymore, seeing him as nothing but a children's TV guy. He gained weight and became severely depressed. He died with a bullet in his head, although no one is sure how it got there. Either he shot himself intentionally, or his girlfriend (or one of his ex-lovers) did. Or perhaps he accidentally shot himself while high on painkillers (he had been in a bad car accident months before). It could have been something else entirely. Unfortunately, detectives didn't do much detective work. They decided it was a suicide without even dusting around for fingerprints. They also tampered with the evidence (and Reeves' body) so much it's likely impossible to ever learn the truth. Either way, whether it was Reeves himself or someone else, somebody did what even Doomsday could not: killed Superman and kept him dead.

David Graf

If you were a fan of the Police Academy films, you knew and enjoyed David Graf. he played Eugene Tackleberry in all six films, and outside of that was in shows like The West Wing, Touched By An Angel, and Caroline in the City, and films like Rule of Engagement and The Brady Bunch Movie. He was a seasoned character actor who could play just about any character, comedic or serious.

Unfortunately, his career and life were destined to be shorter than they deserved to be. On April 7, 2001, while attending a family wedding in Arizona, Graf suffered a severe heart attack and was unable to recover. He died that day, just a week away from turning 51. Sadly, this theme appears to run in the family; according to a Variety review of Surviving David, a one-woman play performed by Graf's widow, Kathryn, both David's father and grandfather died of heart attacks, and both died at age 51. That sounds like something out of a movie, but unfortunately, it's an all-too-real plot twist.

Rebecca Schaeffer

Rebecca Schaeffer was on her way to becoming a major actress when evil ruined it all. The young Schaeffer had only been pursuing acting for a few years but was already winning major roles. She was in a CBS sitcom called My Sister Sam, had several films under her belt, was featured on the cover of Seventeen magazine, and was being considered for the title role in Pretty Woman, the one that eventually went to Julia Roberts. She was, in short, poised to be a superstar.

Tragically, along the way, she grabbed the attention of Robert Bardo, an obsessed fan who paid a private investigator to secure Schaeffer's home address. He arrived at her home, and the encounter ended with him shooting her in the heart. According to Bardo, she repeatedly asked "Why?" as she died, just 21 years old. Bardo was arrested the next day and convicted of first-degree murder two years later. He will remain in prison for the rest of his life, and his actions prompted many states to adopt strong anti-stalking laws. (Every state now has them.) It wasn't the fate Schaeffer wanted, but at least she can rest knowing that others are just a little bit safer.

Judith Barsi

Judith Barsi had a large body of work for someone who died, horribly, at age 10. Starting her career when she was 3 years old, Barsi appeared in shows as diverse as Twilight Zone, Punky Brewster, Remington Steele, and Cheers, along with films like Jaws: The Revenge and Eye of the Tiger. She was probably most known, however, for voicing Ducky the Dinosaur in The Land Before Time, along with Anne-Marie in All Dogs Go To Heaven. What most viewers hearing her voice in those films didn't know is that she was already dead by the time they were released.

Barsi's father, Jozsef, was an abusive alcoholic who would hit both Judith and her mother, resulting in severe depression and anxiety for the young girl. She would pluck out her own eyelashes and even her cat's whiskers, according to the LA Times. During all this, Jozsef repeatedly claimed he would kill his wife and daughter, and on July 25, 1988, he did just that. He shot them both in their home, set the house ablaze, then shot himself to death.

Monty Hall

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Monty Hall was one of the most memorable hosts of one of the most memorable game shows of all time: Let's Make a Deal. The show's premise is bare-bones basic: Do you want to trade the thing you have for a mystery prize that might be better than your thing? But Hall's easygoing charisma, plus potential contestants vying for his attention by dressing in the wackiest, weirdest outfits they could dream up, made the show iconic. He and his show even spawned a famous probability conundrum: the Monty Hall problem. In a nutshell, contestants would pick one of three doors, and Hall would open a different door with a booby prize behind it. He would then allow the contestant to switch doors if desired. In short, you should always switch. There's a 66 percent chance a great prize is behind the door you just switched to. Don't question it; legitimate geniuses say it's true.

Hall remained host of the show until 1990, when it effectively went off the air. When Deal returned permanently in 2009, it had a new host in Wayne Brady. But according to the New York Times, Hall still owned the show and would sometimes show up to make deals alongside Brady. Even at his advanced age, he was still as jovial and charismatic as ever. Unfortunately, age can only advance so far, and on September 30, 2017, Hall suffered heart failure and passed away at 96 years of age.

Rod Taylor

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Younger fans may not recognize Rod Taylor, but his legacy in Hollywood is undeniable. His most famous role came in 1963, when he was cast in the memorable starring role of the Hitchcock thriller The Birds. Rod Taylor appeared in more than 30 movies during the '60s and '70s, including The Time Machine, Do Not Disturb, and Nobody Runs Forever.

In 2009, Rod Taylor played Winston Churchill in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. He was 78 at the time, and it was to be his final role. Rod Taylor died of unknown causes on January 7, 2015, just four days before his 85th birthday. CNN reported that he died in his home, surrounded by friends and family.

Steven Hill

Over more than 50 years in show business, Steven Hill gained a reputation as a talented, versatile actor. Dick Wolf, the producer of Law & Order whom Steven Hill worked with for nearly a decade, called him "one of the truly great actors of his generation." And although he never hugged the spotlight, Steven Hill's acting career cemented him as one of the great faces of television.

From his time on Mission: Impossible (the '60s TV show, not the films, although he did star with Tom Cruise in 1993's The Firm) up through his 10-year run as Adam Schiff on Law & Order, Steven Hill always brought a tense, down-to-earth quality to the characters he portrayed on-screen. He passed away at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital on August 23, 2016, at the age of 94.